A few lightning strikes delayed Tuesday's game for an hour, but the Warsaw girls soccer team only needed one strike to open its Northern Lakes Conference schedule with a victory. Beginning the conference season at home against the Plymouth Lady Pilgrims (1-2, 0-1 NLC), the Warsaw Lady Tigers (3-0, 1-0 NLC) shut out its third-straight opponent and got a late first-half goal from senior Kelly Wildman to win 1-0. To score the goal, senior Hannah Cutshall dribbled the ball into the box, then crossed it to Wildman, who put a quick foot on the ball, sending it past Plymouth's senior goalkeeper Alayna Holmquest with 1:38 remaining in the half. "Hannah had an opportunity earlier, but she chose to shoot," Warsaw coach Dan Miller said about Cutshall, who did have a laser shot saved by Holmquest at the 23:00 mark of the first half. "This time, she had that same, exact opportunity (and she passed). That's the great thing about senior leadership. She learned from it not working so well the first time. This time, she passed it to Kelly and that was a great finish." Following the goal, lightning become more prevalent in the area, and per IHSAA rules, the field must be cleared for 30 minutes following sight of lightning. Ten minutes into the initial delay, lightning was spotted again, resetting the 30-minute clock. By the time the delay was over, the girls from each team had been standing around for an hour, and it seemed to affect the Lady Tigers in a negative way. After outshooting the Lady Pilgrims 13-2 in the first half, with seven of those shots being on goal, the Lady Tigers didn't get their second shot of the second half until 10:30 remained in the contest. "That's something you can't really practice for," Miller said about getting back on the field after the prolonged delay. "It's a mentality thing, and hopefully we learn from it. Fortunately for us, we did get the goal in the first half." And fortunately for Miller, he's got a defense that hasn't surrendered a goal in the first three games of the year. "I think, defensively, we are very solid this year," he said. "We are a hard team to score on." The best chance Plymouth had at a goal came with 14 minutes remaining, when Warsaw sophomore goalkeeper Abby Schue came out of the net to retrieve a ball, but had it pop up out of her hands. As it popped up, Plymouth had a striker behind her, but it hit her in the arm, drawing a handball foul. The win does keep Warsaw's perfect season in tact, but there is still room for improvement. "We gave the ball away a lot," Miller said. "We didn't possess nearly well enough from feet-to-feet. That's a huge thing, and finishing (is another area to improve on). There were a couple times in the first half when it could have been 2-0 or 3-0, instead of 1-0. That's something we're going to need to go through all year. We need to capitalize on our opportunities." Perhaps Warsaw would have gotten a few more goals if it had junior Meredith Hollar, who suffered a torn ACL during the travel soccer season in the spring, on the field. As a sophomore, Hollar set a school record with 28 goals in a season, and was set to have a big season for the Lady Tigers. "You don't replace a player like that, so other people are getting the opportunity to step up," Miller said. "Other people are getting a chance to contribute. Some girls are taking advantage of that. We're not going to necessarily get a bulk of goals from one person. The scoring for us is going to be spread out, and we need that. In the long run, that will make us a much more dangerous team."
